We had a productive day today. We had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the apartment. We found a few more boxes to go through and finished clearing out all the kitchen cabinets.
The man that is going to haul everything away came and gave us an estimate. He is able to take all the remaining stuff. He is coming Monday morning to make it all go away.
One of Kathy’s kids and her husband came and helped us out big time. They loaded up my car with the stuff that we are taking home with us. I have a very full car. I think there is room to put our suitcases in it. I had brought two cases of water and the kids took one of them as we didn’t have room for it.
After my car got loaded they filled their car with some stuff they could use. Then they carried all the stuff to the trash and recycling bins. They also carried a couple bags of clothes across the street to the donation bin. What a big help they were. Kathy and I are both tired and sore and so appreciated their help carrying so many boxes and bags today.
We went out to lunch with them when we were done. Just across the street from Max’s apartment complex is a seafood place. Service was a bit slow but the food was delicious.
After the kids left, Kathy and I went to Webs, a yarn store only 15 minutes from here. Back in the day I ordered lots of yarn from them. I got some yarn to knit a blanket. I didn’t have lots of time to spend and might go back Monday to spend more time.
While we were out and about I stopped and got a plug for the bathtub so I can take a bath tonight. Kathy needed some Benadryl so we stopped and got that.
Another friend of Max’s came to the apartment mid afternoon and picked out a few books to take. It was nice meeting some of Max’s friends. They were all people I would love to get to know better and spend more time with.
After he was done we came back to our hotel. We passed a dispensary on the way here and stopped and got some gummies. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone.
We are going to spend the rest of the day in our quiet hotel room. We have both reached the point of no return and need to decompress a bit. Since we had a big lunch I don’t think we will need to go out for dinner. We have stuff to make a PBJ if we get hungry later.
Tomorrow Kathy is going to CT to see her other kids and a dear friend of hers. Not sure if I am going or not. A quiet day in the hotel room sounds like heaven to me right now. I’ll see if Kathy feels up to driving tomorrow or not. I may go so I can drive. Either way, we won’t be going to the apartment tomorrow. We need a break from it.
Monday the guy is coming in the morning to make everything go away. Afterwards we have two appointments at car dealers to sell Max’s truck. Kelly Blue Book dealers gave us a much better estimate than CarMax did. We shall see what they do when we go to them and they see the truck in person. Trusting one or the other will give us a reasonable offer and we can sell the truck easily Monday. Another company is willing to come to us if we send them some pictures of the truck. We will do that Monday morning and see which of the three will do the best deal.
We still need to close out a bank account and forward the mail but both of those need a copy of the death certificate. Still don’t know if we will have that Monday or not. If not, we can do those two transactions electronically from home. If the truck deal can get done we will head for home Tuesday morning.
We are both exhausted on many levels. It will be good to take a day off tomorrow. Things have gone relatively smoothly so far and it will be good to finish things up Monday. This has taken less time than I had initially thought it would. I had told the place where I boarded the dogs that we would be gone at least two weeks. Looks like it will be more like 10 or 11 days.
Not sure either of us is looking forward to the long drive home. My ankles are still a bit swollen from the drive out here. We will try to stop more often and walk a bit more when we do stop to help the ankles out. We will probably go home the same way we came. Kathy thought it was less traffic than going through Pennsylvania.
What an adventure this has been. We have managed to find joy each day. Project Clean Out has gone faster than I anticipated. Although we are tired it has been rewarding to have been able to do this for Max. We learned more about his life and it was delightful to meet his friends.
Grateful for how smoothly things have gone so far, grateful for the joy we have found each day, and grateful for a day off tomorrow.